


Leave Becky

by Nightingale_Vivian



Category: 35mm: A Musical Exhibition - Oliver & Murphy, Black Friday - Team StarKid, StarKid Productions RPF
Genre: Angst, Becky barnes - Freeform, F/M, Oops, Starkid - Freeform, black friday (musical), how do you do tags, leave luanne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightingale_Vivian/pseuds/Nightingale_Vivian
Summary: Leave Luanne the song, but it's Becky Barnes' story now!
Relationships: Becky Barnes/Stanley (Black Friday), Becky Barnes/Tom Houston
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Leave Becky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dikrats roleplay](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=dikrats+roleplay).



TW// abuse, rape, death, murder, death of an animal, descriptions of pain

Luanne’s fat lip is drying

Rebecca Barnes sits in the corner of a room, curled up in a little protective ball. Blood leaks from her lip, from her forehead, from her nose. A bright red against otherwise dingey skin, grey, and unwashed. Not allowed to. Tonight is her night for washing. Once a week.  
When she’s on break is the worst time. Two weeks off means two weeks without leaving the house.

The bastard’s bacon frying

A sizzling noise starts up in the other room, and she shivers, red hair covering her face. Hiding the tear that slips out. It was just a few weeks ago that she got that burn from hot grease being poured on her. Almost healed, but not quite.

The shiner on her eye’s gone bust and bleeding

She brings her hand up to her eye as there’s a sudden wetness. Yep. More blood. That’s normal to be honest. Clean it up Barnes, clean this all up, fix this mess.

He shouts “Girl, set the table!”

His voice - Stanley’s voice, rings through the otherwise quiet room. She doesn’t cry. Not anymore. Not since she learned what happens.  
But he knows she ain’t able  
She isn’t going to be able to do that… shit. Maybe, maybe, if she pushes herself, if she tries hard enough, she’ll be able to get it done. She has to be able to.

Her arm’s done broke  
It had been a particularly bad day for Stan. More shouting, more screaming, more pain. While Becky couldn’t be completely sure that her arm was broken without an x ray, she was almost certain.

Hung limp like yolk  
And yet. She gets up. Her arm hangs limply at her side, each tiny movement sending a bolt of pain through her entire body.

And softly she’s repeating  
Mumbling under her breath, as softly as possible, trying not to be heard. She knows what’s gonna happen if he hears her.

“Leave Luanne  
Walk out that door. Don’t put up with this anymore. Sure, she loves him, sure, she loved him.

Why don’t you march out that door  
She can’t leave. She’s in too far now. Becky has spent so long with him, they’ve been together since college.

Southern woman, he ain’t no good to you  
He might be a horrible person, but she’s stable here. Not mentally. But she has a job, she has a house, they have a dog.

Leave Luanne  
Walk out that door. She shouldn’t have to stick around. She doesn’t.  
She does.

Louisiana wants war, but it’s you dying on her ruby plains  
Was she dying? Not yet. The pain was bearable, the injuries would heal. Mentally though, Barnes might have well been dead for years.  
And yet, loyal Luanne remains  
Becky stutters across her words, slumps into a chair in the kitchen. “C- could you set the table today hun?”

She sets the table, a couple spots of red dropping onto the napkins.

Ever since he got laid off  
It had been years since Stanley had a proper job, she was the one who provided for the two of them now. It was a lot of pressure, but it was a guarantee that she was going to get to go outside every day, no matter how short of a time might actually be spent outside of the hospital, it was at least something.

His sanity’s been made off  
That day on the beach, so many years ago, she revisits that every day. What if she had left? What if she hadn’t put up with him? What if… what if… what if?  
No, he was never nice, but now he’s cruel  
Has he ever been nice? The answer leaps into her head immediately; no. He was supposed to be a rebound, a comfort on a cold night when she missed Tom. Horrible of her, and now she was paying for that mistake.

He rapes her, and he beats her  
After dinner now, it’s dark outside, and she shivers at what’s to come. Been enough nights like this to know the plan in his head. She hasn’t gotten pregnant yet, and each negative test is a relief. Sentencing a child to this life would make her a terrible person. A worse person.

She don’t ‘fess how he treats her  
Becky has never told anyone, never even tried. It wouldn’t go well. Maybe he’d get locked up for a little bit. Then his friends would come for her. And when he got out, because she knew this system, and she knew he would, he certainly wouldn’t be very happy with her.

‘Cause a bible verse  
Y’know that saying about how desperate people find faith? Barnes is desperate, and she’s willing to look anywhere. Tying her hair back, she recalls some of the things that she’s read through the years. The bible was one that she had snuck during her breaks at work, trying to understand what it was about Christianity that made some people act so horribly.

Says it won’t get worse, and she won’t be a fool  
To be frank, she just didn’t get it. One thing the nurse did enjoy the idea of though, was an afterlife. Not necessarily heaven, but something. Because there had to be more to life than this, there had to be a reason for all of her trials. If there wasn’t, she might go insane.

You won’t never leave Luanne  
She already was for staying. Yet she’d be crazier for going. No one out there was gonna love her. That was a fact Stanley had been drilling into her head for years, so much that she almost believed it.

‘Cause if you walk out that door  
The shower switches on, and she steps inside, letting the warm water rush over her. For the first time in a while, she lets herself think of him. Thomas Houston. Tom. T ‘n’ B forever. Well, they thought it would be. That was proof for both sides of the argument. Becky’s; he had loved her. Stanley’s; he didn’t anymore.

His truck will be gunning for you  
If only she could start over, go back to senior year, go to prom with her boyfriend, get married, have kids… instead there was a messy house, beatings every day, and a truck she didn’t know how to drive that would chase her down if she dared run away.

No, you won’t leave Luanne  
Maybe if Tom had really loved her, he wouldn’t have left. Stanley hadn’t let her. For all his horrible qualities, for all the awful things he did, at least he was still here. Becky loved him. So she wasn’t going to leave either.

Or he’ll give you “what for”  
The water turns off, and she hops out, bright red wet hair dripping over the floor. There’s slightly less pain, and she realizes that the water must have been stinging her cuts. She was so numbed to the feelings of pain at this point that it was a bit of a shock that she had noticed any difference.

You got heart where you should have had brains  
Becky was one of the nicest people you’d ever meet. Selfless, giving, generous, an angel. That gave leeway for devils to take advantage.

And so loyal Luanne remains  
Her hair comes down from her ponytail. She pats it dry, staring in the mirror. If eyes are windows to a person’s soul, Becky’s is entirely broken. Tears welling up, bruising all around them, a sense of terror and horrified anticipation visible in the blue pools.

Someone’s howling  
“Becca!”  
She jumps at the voice, and rushes to pull a tee shirt on. “Yeah Stan?”  
The following words that come out of his mouth just shatter her more and more, each syllable causing a tear to fall. She’s terrified. “You’ve been in there too long! Get your fat ass out here so I can have some fun!”  
Trying to keep a quiver out of her voice, she calls back in as cheerful a manner as possible. “Be out in just a sec hun.”

Screams like sighing with battered breath  
The door bangs open, and he rushes in, delivering a slap across the face, sending the nurse tumbling to the floor. It’s not a scream, but a whimper that comes out of her. So utterly battered and bruised, she doesn’t have the energy.

Grating, growling  
He yanks her up again, dragging her to the bedroom, no matter her protests or pleas. This is happening, whether she likes it or not. It’s a “not.”

Never dying  
As it’s all happening, Barnes can’t help but wish that all of this could be over. One way or another. It didn’t matter how, she’d be willing to do whatever it took.

A fate worse than death  
Dying would be better. The thought flashes through her head, and she pushes it away. She is Becky Barnes. Constant. Never changing. Steady, unbroken. And she plans to stay that way.

But months of such conditions  
It had been months since the last incident. Not since she had last been attacked or injured, that was almost a daily thing. But since she had last thought of Tom, since she had last dared to deny him anything, make him wait an extra moment.  
Tom’s wife had died. That’s why she was thinking about him. A lump in her throat, she sidles up to Stanley. “Hey- did you hear about Jane Perkins? The whole family got in a car crash. She died.” It was a horrible thing, and she thanks her voice for not giving out part way through. “I was… thinking maybe we could go to the funeral.”

Turn laymens to logicians  
“I’d rather see you dead than hanging around that Tom Houston again.” It’s an ultimatum, and certainly not the one she was hoping for.  
It had been fine when the two had parted ways before. Might not have been the best choice in the end, but it was okay, because it was the two of them. But who the hell was HE to keep them apart. “Stan. I want to go to the funeral.”  
He shoves her up against the wall, her breath quickening, realizing she didn’t think this through. Instead of fear, it’s anger that wells up in her. His head leaning down, fire in his eyes. Normally she’d be completely terrified of what was to come. Not today.  
“Becca.” Stanley’s breath scrapes up against her throat, hot and heavy. “What did I just say?”

And tonight the bastard’s sleeping like a dog  
The nurse shoves him away, surprised at the sudden rush of adrenaline. He stumbles back, a look of surprise upon his face. She’s never done this, she’s never fought back. Ever. So when she does, it’s a complete shock.  
Shock soon turns to fury, and she starts to run, throwing the door open and rushing out into the forest.

So she plucks the kitchen cleaver  
Maybe she should be running, but she has to make sure that he’s actually coming for her before that happens. A silhouette in the kitchen window. A hand reaching down towards… the knife block.  
She runs.

Creeps towards his roped-up lab retriever  
There’s a barking noise, and a dog runs through the forest next to her. As much as she might try to move it away, send it back to where it came from, back to the house, it stays. Giving away her location.

And she cuts the rope  
These woods have never been the best for runs, or even walks, the trails littered with sticks and branches.  
Like the one that sends her crashing to the ground.

And hope on hope  
A figure looms over her, holding a knife.

She starts to shout  
A shrill scream pierces the night, rupturing the charged silence.

“Your dog’s got out”  
The dog runs back up to them, circling around, starting to growl when he realizes the situation.  
In a single slashing motion, Stanley cuts its throat.  
“This isn’t a game.” It isn’t one. It never has been, and even if it was, Becky never signed up to play.

She’s got her chance  
He turns back to her, and the knife comes whistling down through the air. In a last attempt to save herself, she makes a blind grab.  
Stopping it from cutting into her stomach. So that was his plan. Not enough to kill her, just to make her stay home. Not able to go to the funeral, not even able to leave the house.

With no back glance  
This is it. She’s never going to get away. Unless.  
The two struggle for the knife, and in one fluid movement, she flips it around and aims blindly, stabbing it just about where his femoral artery should be. No more. She’s not putting up with this. Tonight, she’s fighting back.

She runs out to the bog  
His arms drop, and he falls off of her, clutching the wound.  
Without a second glance, she sprints away.

Screaming, screaming, “Leave Luanne”  
A scream lodged in her throat, she runs. She runs as fast as she can, getting away from that place, getting away from Stanley, getting away from that life.  
What the fuck has she just done?

“Leave Luanne  
She’s leaving. Finally. Unbelievable. After all these years, she never once thought that this would be an option.  
She never thought she would stab him either.  
If she’s hurting him… isn’t she the same? Has she just fallen to his level? Tears sting her eyes, branches whip her skin, all of it a million times better than anything she’s endured with Stan.

You’ve got a life left to live  
All of her life, no matter what she might have imagined for herself, this certainly wasn’t it.  
Was he going to die? The place she got him. If the femoral artery was stabbed, then it was probable. Is that what she wanted?  
She didn’t want that.  
She did.

In a house hanging off the golden coast  
A house, kids, a husband who loved her. All these things had been ripped from her, and she was mad. Mad enough to hurt someone. Like Stanley.

Leave Luanne  
Becky has to leave. Who knew if she would have survived another year. Actually, she did. She knew she wouldn’t have. Whether it was by his hand, or her own, she wasn’t going to have been around next Christmas.

You won’t forget nor forgive  
People could be forgiven for any number of offenses. Stealing, cheating, even sometimes assault. Murder though, not so much. Morals have always been a big part of Barnes’ life. What to do, how to act, even why she stayed.  
What is she now, if not a good person?

And she don’t feel the stings, the rips, and scrapes  
To be free. A concept she’s considered for years, but never seriously. No more pain, no more attacks, no more rapes. She was free.

As finally Luanne escapes  
The branches stop hitting her face, and she bursts out into a clearing. On the edge of town, Christmas lights glimmer in the night. Two figures walk along the side of the street, one large one, and one looking like a young boy. As they come under a streetlight, Becky sees who it is. Tom and Tim Houston. Looking sad as hell, something broken in Tom’s gaze. It feels like she’s the one who’s been stabbed. How insane was this, risking her life, her future? For this person who doesn’t love her. Who has a kid. Whose wife just died for god’s sake.  
She was an idiot, a terrible person, and worst of all, a killer.  
As terrible as Stanley was, he’d never killed anyone. Becky had. She was worse. She was the bad person here.  
Slinking back into the shadows, she prepares herself for a lonely life. One where she doesn’t end up cuddled in front of a fire, safe and warm. One where she comes home to an empty house, no family, no kids.  
Just her then.  
Better than with him.

Swim Luanne, swim luanne  
Her head crests out of the water down at Hatchetfield community pool. It’s been a little while now, and Becky is using all of her free time to do things that she wasn’t allowed to do before. Swim, skate, go to concerts and plays. It was nice.

And in the swamp of beeches  
People watch her, whisper to each other about her. This town has never been the nicest place, but one of the things that she hates the most is the gossipy people. Still. Let them all believe he left her for a woman in Clivesdale. Wasn’t as bad as some of the other things that had gone around. Apparently Linda was cheating on her husband, which seemed like it would be worse than having your husband leave you.  
Not worse than murdering someone.

Oh, as the preacher preaches  
He wishes he got the chance to leave. She actually started trying a lot of new things. She went to church one day, begged for forgiveness, she works more, works harder, spends as much of her time as possible out of the house. Being there isn’t okay. It still doesn’t feel safe. Probably never will.

As the light, in the night  
No matter what, she’s going to enjoy this. Have fun doing something she hadn’t in years. Everyone else could screw off.

Holds through the marsh and the brushes  
Becky had been having more and more thoughts like that recently. Mean ones. Or at least, a bit ruder. Was it because she was finally allowed to talk back, to think for herself? Could have been. Or she could be turning into someone like Stanley.

As the blood inside you rushes  
Her pulse starts to speed up as she pushes herself harder. Swim. Just keep swimming. Take your mind off of this. She was a good person. She was.

Left and right  
Front crawl. Pumping blood through her veins, to keep herself alive. That’s what it all was. Self-defence. Keeping herself alive.

Hold on tight  
Ignore he was aiming for the stomach. Ignore you could have stabbed him anywhere else.

Until you reach the bank  
She holds onto the edge of the pool, taking a quick break, gasping for air. Barnes has been doing that a lot lately.

And you crawl onto the bank  
Just outside, a short blonde woman walks by, and seeing Becky, smirks, and starts talking on her phone a bit faster. Linda.

‘Til you feel a little yank on your hair  
The dream shifts. She’s back in the forest, unaware that it isn’t really happening. She screams, but no sound comes out. There’s a crashing noise from behind, and she’s yanked to the ground by her ponytail.

And stricken, stare at the bastard  
He’s here. His cold green eyes staring straight at her, alight with fire and insanity.

Who beat you there  
And it all happens again. Except for one large difference. This time, when he stabs, she can’t stop it.

The bastard lies in bed now  
She watches. Her dying body lying on the ground as she bleeds out, unable to do anything to stop it, try as she might. The shirt is dirty, could bring infection. Jeans will do no good either. Leaves or other things you might find in a forest won’t help at all. Moss is absorbent, but not enough for this sort of wound.

Half-sad his wife is dead now  
In this version, he leaves her in the woods. Just like she left him. How horrible that must have been. Watching the blood leak out of your body. Fall upon the ground, colour everything red, and not knowing if you’d live to see it go brown.  
Or. She was a nurse.  
She knew.

She drowned herself in a swamp in wild despair  
That’s what he’ll tell them. That she killed herself. Easier than having her be missing, and wouldn’t ruin his reputation like telling people she left him would.

He thinks he used to love her  
She loved him once, didn’t she? Experiencing this herself, it was an awful thing. How did a nurse, and a pediatric one at that, do something like this? Rage clouds the mind, adrenaline sets off a fight or flight reaction.  
But Becky was better than that. She should have saved him, made sure he was okay, made sure he didn’t die.  
He had to be dead. She hoped he was. And wasn’t that the worst thing?

But push it came to shove her  
If it had been any other day, if Jane hadn’t have died, if she hadn’t been teased with the opportunity to see Tom. Barnes would probably still be with him, and she might even have a lovely new scar across her stomach. This had to be the right thing to do.

A wife disposed, a wife case closed  
No one had thought to investigate. Of course he left. Innocent and perfect, Becky Barnes couldn’t have had anything to do with it. Not the poor woman who cried for weeks afterwards.

And no one seems to care, to grieve Luanne  
Really, no one did care. Just Becky and Stanley, a tiny family that she ruined. His parents showing up to take some of his stuff had been the worst part. She had cut off communications with her family because of Stan years ago. If she had been the one to die, they might not even have known.  
She would have wanted them to know… didn’t Stan’s parents have that right?

Now no one’s on his shoulder  
The remainder of her blood drains out onto the forest ground, accompanied by her tears, as her vision goes dark.  
And she wakes back up in bed. In the house. That cold, empty house.

But his mattress don’t feel colder  
Empty for sure, but the chill is starting to get warmer. There doesn’t seem to be any reason, making her instantly wary.

And in fact, it’s hellish hot, and the air is dank and steaming  
The temperature is climbing, she’s sweating, and she reaches for the knife that she keeps next to the bed now. There was a distinct possibility that Stanley was still alive. Not so much rationally, but that didn’t matter in the moment. He could be here. He was the only one who knew where the air con and heat was. It had been another form of control when he was still around. Being able to make her freezing or burning in a moment.

Yet his body starts to shiver  
It’s involuntary, what happens next. Her body is shivering, quaking back and forth, her breathing speeding up. As a nurse, she knows all the signs of an anxiety attack, and what you’re supposed to do to stop it. But Becky’s never been all that good at applying medical knowledge to herself. Not with her bruises and cuts, and not with this.

When the window cracks a sliver  
The window slides open, almost silently. She hears it. Hears every noise, and turns towards them, brandishing the knife.

And a fiery fog from the miry bog pours in the room  
Smoke drifts into the room, and soon flames are licking at the side of the house. She jumps up from the bed, and goes right over to the door.  
It’s been locked.  
From the outside.  
It’s been months since that happened. She’d forgotten that it could even do that.

In a sticky gloom, and there the man  
To the window. It’s a long shot, but maybe she’d be able to jump, make it somehow. That was better than trying to use the shower to fend this all off until the firefighters could get there.

Sees dead Luanne  
She pokes her head out of the window, looking from left to ri-  
There he is. Stanley.  
An evil grin on his face, a matchbox in his hands, he walks towards her.  
Fight or flight. She should be able to do one of those. But the nurse has forgotten the third option, and it’s freeze.

He’s terrified, but he keeps his pride  
Her eyes are wide, and he stalks across the grass, until he’s just a few inches away.

‘Cause he knows he ain’t dreaming  
When he reaches out and cups her face, she knows she isn’t dreaming anymore. His hand has that horrible rough texture that she’s always hated, and another shiver shakes through her body with each finger laid across her skin.

And he starts screaming  
This has to be a dream though. Because Stanley shouldn’t have fresh blood stained across his leg. She shoves his hand away, taking a moment to do so, almost unable to move.

“Leave Luanne  
Veins bulge out on his neck, and he opens his mouth, blood dripping out. That isn’t right. It shouldn’t be there. And it shouldn’t be this deep dark brown colour. Should be dried if it’s brown. No. No.

Hell sent you back here for more  
“Becca…” His voice has haunted her for months and months, but in truth, she’d forgotten quite what the edge in it was like when he was angry. Sure, it was the norm, but her imagination could never compare to the heart racing terror that came with that tone.

‘Cause no one ain’t never loved you”  
“You hurt me. Real bad.” There’s a lilt in his voice that wasn’t there before. It’s rustier, grates on her ears. His hand comes back, and wraps right around her throat, causing a single tear to drop down her face. “Bex. You know I’m the only one who’s ever gonna love you, right?”

But said Luanne, “I’ve come to settle a score.”  
Becky gulps. Now, she has nothing left to lose. Something hardens in her gaze, and she moves the hand away again.  
“No.”  
“No?” He questions in a way that makes her think it isn’t a question. But she answers anyway.  
“No. I love myself.”

And she shows him her feet are bound in chains  
Stanley pulls up the end of a chain. It’s wrapped around his feet, and hers too. Where the hell did that come from? -this was her fate now. To forever be bound to this man, never getting out, never escaping. Not even after killing him.

And loyal Luanne remains  
He yanks at the chains, pulling her out of the window. Flames lick around their feet, and she wonders for a moment how he isn’t being burned.  
When she starts feeling it, she stops being able to properly think.

And remains  
“You loving yourself doesn’t count darling.”  
Stanley kisses her, softly. It might be the worst thing she’s felt tonight.

And remains  
The pain is bigger than anything, no room to worry about what’s going to happen next. “P- please. Make it stop.” If there was one thing that Becky hated, it was begging for things, especially with Stan. It almost never worked, and she would get a slap for being annoying. Plus, it meant she was unable to do something, get through something. This… was worth it. “Please!”

And remains  
Her body is pulled downwards, into a dark hole. The burning is gone, but the very air hurts.  
“You deserve this.”

Someone’s howling  
She cries out, tears pouring down her face. Linked to him, he must be feeling something like this too. When she forces her eyes to focus on something, she sees that isn’t the case. His teeth, slightly sharper than they were before, gleam through the black.

Screams like sighing, with battered breath  
Maybe she does deserve this. If Stan felt this pain before dying, it was only fair that she felt the sort of thing at some point.  
Barnes was used to it.  
She’s get over it, if he could just let. Her. Go.

Grating, growling  
And again, the nurse is pushed over the edge. Finally her instincts kick in, and with all of her strength, she attacks the chains around their feet, pulling as hard as she could, trying to remove them.

Never dying  
He grabs her hands, and holds them behind her back.  
This is it. This is all she’s ever going to be. A haunted woman who killed someone, who went through years of abuse, and who is never going to be able to get away from that.  
It might have been better for her to really have died out there in the woods.

In a fate worse than death  
It’s just like that night. Her consciousness has created this as a reality. His breath is brushing up against her skin, there’s a cool sensation pressed against her back, probably some sort of blade.

Luanne, she cries her miserable wail  
One last prayer for help, one last call. If no one came, she’d know that she was worthless, a terrible person, a murderer.  
Only one name comes to her mind.  
“Tom! Help!”

So the bastards will never sleep again  
A warm hand wraps around her, and she turns her head, tears drying up as she sees… Thomas Houston. Laying next to her in a bed, a concerned look on his face. “What’s wrong? Bad dream?”

No, no reprieve Luanne  
Barnes throws her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder as he holds her gently. Delicately, like she’s a little flower that could break at any moment. Normally she might not like that, but after the dream she’s just had, that’s all she wants. Love, care, knowing that no matter what she’s done there’s someone who loves her.

She brings their souls down to hell  
A giggling sound comes from the next room, bringing a smile to her face through the tears. Evie was having a sleepover tonight with their girlfriends, and she was doing her best to be supportive, even though she wasn’t all that pleased about having Noel there.

A caution to the cruelest of men  
For a moment, she thinks she hears Tim’s voice too, saying something like “ewww kissing.”  
Yeah. That seemed like him. Y’know, he really should be asleep right now, it was like three am. The girls should be too for that matter…  
But in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a big deal.

God loves Luanne  
Because here she was, hearing her children having fun in the other room, cuddled up with her husband, surrounded by pure love and family. Like she’d always wanted.  
They loved her, and they didn’t care about what she had done in the past. In fact, they were proud of her for making it through everything and coming out still being such a wonderful person (not her words). 

Praised be  
“Hey,” She looks at Tom as he speaks, losing herself in the autumnal brown eyes gazing across the pillow into her own light blue. “You’re so strong, and brave. I love you Becky, and I’m so proud.”  
All his words mean so much to her, and she wishes she could rearrange the stars to spell that out. It might be the only way she truly believes it.

Amen  
Or she could choose to trust him.  
She was Rebecca Barnes, and she was an amazingly resilient person, who had done the best she could to get out of a horrible situation.  
That sounded right.

**Author's Note:**

> That was a ride. Thanks to everyone who actually made it through this!!  
> To my internet family, I love you guys. Thanks for supporting me while I went insane writing this over the past few days.  
> oh! And Evie is my OC, they're 18 in this :)  
> Becky and Tom adopted them around a year ago, and while she has their own place, they sometimes come to hang out at the house, and especially when all of their girlfriends are around (polyam rights!).


End file.
